5.56 NATO brass

[warpedskydiver 0]

anyone have a thousand pieces of reloadable brass?

I have a 1000 rounds of ammo (M855 ball),that needs reloading BECAUSE THE BRASS IS AWFUL

So I will have to pull every bullet, and reload every damned round.

If anyone has this please post or IM me, I will pay postage, and gladly help you in the future.

Or I can trade you something.(perhaps)depends on what you need

[JohnRich 4]

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I have a 1000 rounds of ammo (M855 ball),that needs reloading BECAUSE THE BRASS IS AWFUL

What's wrong with the brass? Dented? Corroded?

You can buy bulk brass fairly cheap, even "once fired" brass for an additional discount:

http://www.wideners.com/itemview.cfm?dir=278|282|291|390

If you have the tool to remove a primer crimp, you can get 1,000 pieces of military once-fired crimped-primer brass for just $55.

Pulling the bullets on that many pieces is going to be a major pain in the ass...

I've got a case of old .303 ammo I've been recycling, because it has the decades old cordite inside, which often doesn't fire. But the brass and bullets are great for reloading with modern powder.

[shropshire 0]

How safe is pulling bullets from old rounds John?... Do they become unstable with time?

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[JohnRich 4]

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How safe is pulling bullets from old rounds John?... Do they become unstable with time?

Unstable? Not that I know of. Ammo stays functional for an extraordinary length of time, given half-decent storage. I've shot WWII surplus ammo quite a bit, and most of it is sure-fire. With bad storage, it just goes dead, with the primers and/or powder going bad. I've heard of dynamite turning into nitroglycerin over an extended period of time in heat, but I've never heard of gunpowder doing that.

There are special dies that hold the base of the cartridge so that the primer won't be disturbed, while some "claws" grab hold of the bullet to extract it from the case. This is done in a press, with a handle design that provides compound leverage. Then you empty out the powder, and you have the basic components: cartridge case, powder and bullet. Some or all may be re-used, depending upon the condition.

Of course, any time you're messing with primers, you wear safety glasses, just in case one goes off. You don't want to go whacking or compressing primers - they're designed to flash when placed under just a little pressure. Just like a cap in a cap gun, except that the flash which is produced is much larger. Fire an empty case sometime with nothing but the primer in it, in a dark room, and watch the stream of fire come out the end of the barrel!

With my old .303 ammo, the primers and powder are bad, but the cases and bullets can be reused. And that can save a lot of money since you don't have to purchase those components new.

[shropshire 0]

Thanks.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[jakee 1,596]

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I've shot WWII surplus ammo quite a bit, and most of it is sure-fire.

Wasn't there a story a few years ago about the US army digging into ancient stores of 0.50 cal ammunition to meet demand in Iraq - am I remembering that right?

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[jm951 0]

If you're into milsurp eastblock rifles, the ammo supply for the Mosin Nagants and their ilk is usually circa 1950 manufacture. My sons both have Mosins and shoot Hungarian milsurp through them. So far, no misfires.

We did experiment with making some hillbilly match ammo. We pulled the bullets from 100 rounds, dumped the powder into a measure, remetered the powder and put back a modern manufacture civilian bullet. You'd be amazed at how much that tightens up the groups for no more than the cost of just the bullet.

[ryoder 1,590]

Didn't see you mention kinetic pullers. How well do they work?

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[jm951 0]

they work, but they're a PITA to use.

When disassembling milsurp, the best method I've found is to use a single stage press, leave the dies off, mount the round on the ram and extend the ram. Grab the bullet with vise grips and lower the ram. Works every time. There is a bullet puller made by RCBS that would work. We weren't interested in saving the commie bullets as they were highly irregular in weight and had some variance in dia as well. The powder charges were not uniform, hence we dumped the powder and remeasured it. Group sizes were cut by almost half in a Mosin, so it does work.

[justinb138 0]

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Fire an empty case sometime with nothing but the primer in it, in a dark room, and watch the stream of fire come out the end of the barrel!

I once did this with a .44mag cartridge in a closed garage with no hearing protection, expecting something like a cap gun going off.

Not something I'll do again. Nice muzzle flash, very, very loud, and had to clean the gun pretty well afterwards.

[akarunway 1]

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anyone have a thousand pieces of reloadable brass?

I have a 1000 rounds of ammo (M855 ball),that needs reloading BECAUSE THE BRASS IS AWFUL

So I will have to pull every bullet, and reload every damned round.

If anyone has this please post or IM me, I will pay postage, and gladly help you in the future.

Or I can trade you something.(perhaps)depends on what you need

Godamn skydivers. You guys are a bunch of cheap bastards. I'll leave a couple hundred rounds of brass for whomever at the range. And I give all my beer cans to the bums. Recycle this Have any Ramon noodles? I'm hungry

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[warpedskydiver 0]

yeah and then we spend thousands on rigs, and toys.

Seriously what else are you supposed to do with 1000 rounds of loaded M855 ball that was your GO TO stash?

I will be loading some 75grain OTM as well, maybe some 60grain BT as well.

[JohnRich 4]

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Didn't see you mention kinetic pullers. How well do they work?

They work, but only for for low-volume bullet pulling. It's too slow and cumbersome if you need to pull a hundred. You have to screw-in the cap every time you load a round, and unscrew the cap each time to dump out the unloaded bullet and powder.

The benefit over a pulling die is that it doesn't leave any marks on the bullet where the "claws" grab the bullet to extract it.

I have one in my reloading kit that I use now and then.

[JohnRich 4]

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Fire an empty case sometime with nothing but the primer in it, in a dark room, and watch the stream of fire come out the end of the barrel!

I once did this with a .44mag cartridge in a closed garage with no hearing protection, expecting something like a cap gun going off.

Not something I'll do again. Nice muzzle flash, very, very loud, and had to clean the gun pretty well afterwards.

Yeah, it's amazing how much bang and flash you get out of that tiny little dot of primer compound. I'd like to have a baseball-sized chunk of it to play with...

[JohnRich 4]

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Godamn skydivers. You guys are a bunch of cheap bastards.

The more you save the more you can shoot. Or jump!

[JohnRich 4]

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Seriously what else are you supposed to do with 1000 rounds of loaded M855 ball that was your GO TO stash?

I will be loading some 75grain OTM as well, maybe some 60grain BT as well.

I've got some batches of ammo like that too. Once you find out how much better something else shoots, then the old stuff is no longer fun to shoot anymore, and quickly becomes relegated as "junk".

Sell it to some other unsuspecting shooter who doesn't realize yet that there is better ammo available.

What is "OTM"?

For my .223 loads I shoot the Sierra 69 gr. HPBTM (hollow point boat-tail match) bullets, and they work well out to 600 yards.

[warpedskydiver 0]

Open Tip Match hornady's 75 grain equivalent of MK262 ammo.

MK262 is a Sierra Match King 75grain OTM

[JohnRich 4]

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Open Tip Match hornady's 75 grain equivalent of MK262 ammo.
MK262 is a Sierra Match King 75grain OTM

So is "open tip" the same things as "hollow point"?

The so-called hollow-point on Sierra's target match bullets are just a tiny little pin prick. It's so small that I've always thought that it shouldn't really qualify as a hollow point.

Can those be loaded to magazine length? Or is that at the heavy-end point where they are seated long and can be single loaded only?

[LouDiamond 1]

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I've heard of dynamite turning into nitroglycerin over an extended period of time in heat,

(old)Dynamite doesn't turn into nitroglycerin. The older nitroglycerin based dynamite that used earth/sawdust as a binding agent would over time accumulate or sweat the nitroglycerine that was inside the sticks into pools that could crystalize along the outside of the wrapper or in the crate.This type of dynamite became unstable as it got older. The nitroglycerin was always inside that type of dynamite which is why they stopped making nitroglycerin based dynamite the way Nobel first patented it for use.

It is rare to encounter the older type of Dynamite but not unheard of as I have run into it in a few 3rd world countries. What is more common is the nitrocelluose based dynamite that is relatively stable even over time and does not sweat. I have used this type of dynamite out of war time stocks that was manufactured in the late 40s-50s with out issue.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
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[warpedskydiver 0]

nope it is a small cavity, not at all like the HP.

[JohnRich 4]

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Open Tip Match hornady's 75 grain equivalent of MK262 ammo.
MK262 is a Sierra Match King 75grain OTM

I can't find any "OTM" bullets on their web sites:

Hornady .224 bullets

Sierra .224 bullets

Other info I've found says the MK262 bullets come from Nosler. Their web site doesn't use the term "OTM" either.

Nosler .224 bullets

I'm beginning to think that the terms OT for "open-tip", and HP for "hollow point" are really just two different ways of describing the same exact thing.

Attached: photo of Sierra .224 69-grain HPBTM bullets - the "hollow point" is just a tiny little cavity. It's not a hollow-point as used to create mushrooming for a hunting or self-defense bullet. This hollow-point design is intended to be more efficient aerodynamically for retaining velocity for long-range shooting.

[warpedskydiver 0]

Basically yes, I see no reason to use differnt terms really, unless it has to do with the depth of the cavity.

MK262 Black Hills Red box 75grain OTM $30 per box of 50. (Hornady T-1 bullet like in .223 TAP) have plenty

[warpedskydiver 0]

Black Hills Mk262 Mod1 5.56mm 77gr. SMK HP Ammunition Seconds
Brand New Ammunition, NOT RELOADED!


MK262 is a 75 grain

[JohnRich 4]

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MK262 Black Hills Red box 75grain OTM
Black Hills Mk262 Mod1 5.56mm 77gr. SMK HP

When I google those phrases I get info from shooting blogs using the term "OT" for "open tip", but nothing from the actual manufacturers calling their ammo "OT". So I am thinking more strongly that "OT" is just a term used informally by the shooting community, which is interchangeable with "HP" for "hollow point".